How has Google’s Algorithm Changed in 2017?

How has Google’s Algorithm Changed in 2017?
Today SEMrush released it’s midyear findings and key analytics on the how Google’s algorithm had changed over the past six months. Google’s Algorithim is what determines the ranking of your site inn other words your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For a single test, they often surveyed more than 60,0000 websites. An impressive feat that has resulted in a monster 31-page SEO-manifesto. SEMrush is a serious online optimization tool so it’s not written for the average joe. A moderate to high understanding of SEO and tech is assumed. At Click Champion we have gone over the entire report to bring you the most interesting and important findings in untechnical lingo.
10 The Average difference in the number of backlinks between the 1st and 10th position on page one of Google’s search results.
That’s right a few backlinks can make all the difference. We at Click Champion were also pleasantly surprised by this very achievable number.
49% The average bounce rate of domains ranking in the Top 3 results of Google.
Loading times and immediately engaging content are more important than ever.Bounce rate means the amount of people who did not wait for your site to load before leaving or who left your site after viewing only one page.
1.5x The amount of additional content required for High volume keywords (Keywords that are searched a lot) to keep a competitive in rankings.
So essentially if you have a page that you would like to promote you should be adding an additional 50% of content to any page dedicated to a highly coemptive product or service.
66% The number of high volume keyword results that ranked in position 1 on Google. Keywords are still hugely important to SEO
Unless you have a monster of a site and are paying a company into the tens of thousands of dollars a year to rank you using everything in the magic bag + the kitchen sink you’ll need be smart. Go back to basics because they still work. Put your chosen keyword or a variation of it in your title.
235-seconds The average amount of time visitors consistently spend interacting with the websites ranked in the top 4 positions in Google.
Jurys in guys. If you want to make it to the best positions on page one of Google you need to hold your visitor’s attention for at least 4 minutes.
SEO for 2017: The Short Version

Is not a lot has changed in the way Google ranks sites in the past six months. There have been no major algorithm updates. *Disclaimer, while there have been serval major algorithm updates this year there has been nothing like the panda or penguin updates. Nothing that has truly shaken the ranking system. Our clients have seen little to no effect positively or negatively from 2017 Google Algorithm updates. Websites that have shifted greatly I suspect are by in large websites that are being penalized for…. let’s call it suspicious ranking techniques. SEO begins with the basics. Google still loves all of the same old things it has been hinting at for years. Chances are at the beginning of 2018 I will be writing a very similar blog about how the more things change the more they stay the same. That being said Meta Descriptions being verified as irrelevant is news. Not big news, the meta description has never been important but to find out is no longer having any recognizable effect is interesting. So too the new findings that show it is only an average of 10 Backlinks that separate position 10 from position 1. If you own a small to medium sized business this really should be cause for a celebration. If you take only one thing away from this blog take this. Go out there and make some connections in your industry. If you can’t do that get some backlinks from other locally registered businesses in your community. 10 backlinks is not an unreasonable amount of links for anyone to acquire. Professional or not. Improve your content. Hold people’s attention. Remember your keywords. And make sure the site is fast. Google is in a long romance with websites that load quickly. We all have our fetishes I guess 🙂 Thanks for reading. If you are more serious about the SEO of your website and are familiar with search engine optimization terminology then keep an eye out for next week’s blog where we are going to dive a little deeper into SEMrush’s half yearly report. Happy Rankings. Steven Johnson Is unbeatable at mini golf and much loved by his girlfriend Eva. In his spare time he is a senior SEO consultant for Click Champion Australia. Finishing with honors at Christian Brothers College in Adelaide. He went on to study Marketing and Information Technology at Uni S.A. (University of South Australia) He now lives the Australian dream every day of his life.